Happy First Anniversary!

My love and I have celebrated our first wedding anniversary on May 7, 2009.
Wow!
Where has the year gone?
Words can't express how fast and amazing this year has been.
We have survived our first PCS move together, second deployment together, job hunting, sharing one car (because I left the Honda for my sister) and various adventures in our new home state of Hawaii.
I am so astonished at the fact that DH has been here on the island for just about 2 years and myself for one.
Where did the time go?
I can't believe it!
Our anniversary was absolutely beautiful!
It was full of emotion and love.
(I guess the fact that he just got back from another deployment also added to the emotions)
You would have thought that we had just gotten married with our tears of joy and absolute bliss.
I wish I could say that this first year was a piece of cake and marriage takes away all of your problems, but it doesn't.
You just learn to make decisions together and the problems and struggles are no longer your own to carry but "ours" and now that is easier.
When you have a spouse who will help you carry the weight and make decisions together that is something to be proud of!
I am very proud of all that we have accomplished this past year.
I pray that each year we will continue to build on the previous years and our relationship will continue to grow.
We both have committed ourselves to letting the seeds of ourselves grow and we will decide together which direction we will go.
We are so proud of our home and all that we have accomplished.
I still live in amazement when I look around at the island of Hawaii and think, WOW, this is OUR home!
I love married life!

More to come...
I have to cover my dear friend Susan's baby shower and HOMECOMING!
(but the season finale of Lost is on...gotta go!)

My Heart Sailed Away...

Today my heart sailed away.

I gather up strength and find comfort in my love and I know that he is safe.

This is his career, he is a military man.

I know that sooner rather than later he will be back in my arms safe and sound and making me laugh with something silly.

Today at the pier, I stood there all alone wondering how many more of these will I endure.

As I stood there, sounds of "daddy",  "dadddddyyyyyy", "byeeee daddy", really stood out to me.

WOW! I can only imagine what this is going to be like when we have a family.

I was blessed to see my love before he left even though he had duty the night before and we had some quality time on the ship.

I took him lunch and dinner and ice cream throughout the day, I started to feel like one of the crew.

Right now I am just a ball of emotions, I am not falling apart by any means but my brain is just so frazzled from the day's events and I need sleep.

I bought DH a TON of movies and TV shows for his iPod and well dumb me bought them under my Apple ID so it wouldn't let me put it on his iPod, so he left with my iPod. That doesn't bother  me, what bothers me is the non transferability of purchases!

Well, my brain is shutting down!

I need sleep!

I didn't sleep because I was on the phone with DH all night, why...well why not!

I love my hubs!

I miss ...

How I miss Super Target! This was taken during my trip home in November, good ol' Rowlett TX.  I miss RHS too! I hope DH doesn't look at our bank statement to see how much I spent at Super Target and well during my trip back home for that  matter....LOL! I took this photo for my HMW peeps....you know the side effects of no TARGET! 

Thanksgiving Feast !

We had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!! (This is a photo of only some of our Thanksgiving Feast, our little table was packed with Jai goodness!)

Many continued blessings to all of you! 

No, we did not shop Black Friday, but we did hit up the stores Saturday night to find some deals and came home with our new beloved Dyson vac. We are in love! <3>

Love you all. 

Question of the Day: What is the state bird of Hawaii?

The Nene, Seashell asked me this as she received the shipment of goodies I mailed her and the little squirt read the books and was quizzing me!! LOL

Ta Da! Our Very FIRST MARRIED Christmas Tree!

Our very FIRST MARRIED Christmas tree!! (yes, we have had other Christmas trees) I must admit that photos do not do this tree justice! It was a labor of love and we really enjoyed putting up the tree together.  DH and I (ok, well me) drank some wine (ok, it was more than some) and we were singing Christmas carols as we put up the tree.  There are 3 other trees in the house and I will try to get photos of those up.  They are more decorative and I put one up in our guest bedroom for the MIL as she will be joining us for Christmas this year.

I have modified the tree a bit but I do hope that our first married Christmas tree doesn't disappoint! This is for you KatieD! :)

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

Stay tuned, it's coming! DH bought me the tree I was nagging about for 2 weeks this weekend and he got me a chest freezer to fill with my bulk purchases from Sam's.  I buy edamame in bulk and other frozen veggies, sorry I have to have veggies with my meal.

YAY! I love my hubby! :)

BTW Thanks ShannonK for the inspiration! Your Christmas tree is sensational, you motivated me to get with the early bird Christmas decoration team! 

Our FIRST MARRIED Christmas! 

This is our third Christmas, but the FIRST married and we look forward to quality time together this holiday season as DH will be leaving to play battleship very soon. :( 

Watch out world, Jai is training to jog the 8 mile Great Aloha Run, that may not be a long jog for you avid joggers but this is Jai we are talking about, I am only doing 2 miles now, I will get there! *Cue the Rocky music NOW*

Deuces.

-Jai

Joint Spouses Conference

Earlier this month I attended a conference for all military spouses and I really enjoyed myself.  It was good to meet new faces and be around other spouses who know what daily life as a military spouse is all about.  I enjoyed workshops from Hawaiian gardening, decorating, photography, makeup consultation, to ummmmmmmm............

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WINE TASTING! 

This wine tasting was unlike another other I have been to, and I have made my rounds!! This one was not skimpy!

We even had entertainment from Daniel Martinez ( see below) he gave an interesting presentation on Pearl Harbor to Polynesian dancing.  What a fun weekend!! I met fellow, HMW's as well.  Long live HMW!!!!!!! (Hawaii Military Wives)

When in Rome....

Do as the Romans do....

Or when in Hawaii, eat Shave Ice....yummmmmmm

We went down to  Waiola Shave Ice in Honolulu, oh my goodness that was sooo good!!

What is the strangest combination you have eaten in a shave ice?

Do you eat the shave ice with beans? Or do you prefer ice cream or condensed milk in your shave ice?

I am not so brave, I go with ice cream! 

Big Island FUN!

Rearranging is time consuming, so narration will have to be suffice.

Walking to the "NEW" lava with D. It was quite the journey.

Waves crashed at the southernmost tip of the United States.

Silly photo I just wanted to take with my hand!

Ready to GO!

If you know Hawaii, then you know how popular mac nuts are!

M* (my new BFF-LOL) and her son

Lava that has formed into blocks but as Bear Grylls would say "shelter".

Jagged lava, yes this was quite an adventure to hike through.

We stopped at this candy factory to see what the hype was about.

More hiking adventure on day #1. At this point D* and I thought we had lost his mommy and brother, thankfully we didn't.

Tired little one at the zoo.

Interesting lava rock formations.  

mooooo....cows on the big island

whew, we are almost done with the hike!!

This reminded me of Don Quixote. 

Taking in the views with a NICE camera, this is new lava. M* I loved your camera!

Interesting plaque, I liked the colors.

Ahhhhh, I love wine!!

Fresh steam being released....wow! 

Our cabin for the weekend.

Taking a stroll on the new lava.

Holy smokes Batman!! That's a lot of lava.

I wonder why the road is closed?!?

Cool shot by D*

Hiking is FUN!!

It smelled like fresh ironing! Steam!!!

Native plants!!! 

I really liked the rock formations from the lava.

We felt like we were being banished from civilization.

Somewhere over the rainbow and LAVA!

Posing with the NEW lava.

I wonder why the road is closed?

Activity at different points ...cool pic !

What patience and skill!!

View from the museum window...

WHOA!

Pretty falls!!

You have to take photos of the signs!!

What landscape!! That's lava!!